Professor Paul Griffin

So we do need to have a global approach to these sorts of problems.

And we are seeing them emerge more and more quickly.

So we do need to be on top of them so that we can know exactly what we're dealing with and get on top of them quickly.

And a lot of these sort of situations do start in more remote parts of the world, poorer parts of the world.

And

and often are allowed to take off before even basic principles are able to be applied to control them.

So this is a really good example of why we do need to have that global approach.

And particularly now the world is a smaller place.

There are no parts of the world that are able to be easily isolated.

And so we all need to be vigilant to make sure that this current outbreak gets controlled quickly and doesn't spread further.

It's such a challenging location.

And sometimes when people are coming into that area to try and help, there's a perception by some of the locals that they may be contributing to the problem rather than trying to help it.

And also there are infection control practices that are really important in terms of how the deceased are managed, because if they still have blood or body fluids on them containing the virus,

they can be a source of onward transmission.

So if external authorities are trying to prevent contact with the deceased, that can be seen as potentially something that's obviously not ideal from the locals' perspective.

And then they may protest against that, or we've even seen some facilities burnt down and very significant barriers to that external help being able to provide the assistance that's required.

So

you know, it highlights the fact and, you know, obviously all the organisations that are doing this have expertise and knowledge of some of these situations, but we do need to do it in such a way that works hand in hand with the locals to try and get the best outcome and get this under control as quickly as we can.

Look, I think they're doing a fantastic job.

You know, it's a delicate balance and sometimes if they communicate early, people are concerned, they're alarmist and if there's a delay, then obviously people are concerned they didn't act quickly enough.